


Warm Heart, Frozen Mind

by EclipseOfTheWild



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Because I need more of that, Being Lost, Hyrule and Four friendship, Lost on a snowy mountain, Panic Attacks, Snow and Ice, This was supposed to be a Christmas fic lmao, but eh, but not the fluffy kind, which goes great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22221931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EclipseOfTheWild/pseuds/EclipseOfTheWild
Summary: Getting lost on a snowy mountain is one thing, but getting lost alone on a snowy mountain is another. As Four struggles to find a way to safety, he grapples with problems both from the harsh weather and from the things lurking in it.And a resurfacing fear certainly doesn't help.
Relationships: Blue & Red & Green & Vio, Four & Hyrule (Linked Universe)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 157





	Warm Heart, Frozen Mind

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! So a little something I found funny: This is officially the 20th fic I've posted on ao3, which happens to also be the very first fic I've posted in 2020! It was meant to be, I suppose sksksksk
> 
> Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy!

Four was a complicated person to say the least. If one were to ask him something like what he thought of the weather that day you’d most likely get four completely different answers. Even making the simplest decisions was like waging a war inside his own head.

Having four different people with different personalities and interests sharing his brain would do that, though. When he was on his adventure, he assumed that when he put the Four Sword back it would revert him back to his original form- and it did, of course, but his fragmented soul never pieced together properly, which left him with the insanity he dealt with today.

Not that he minded; it was nice to still have the company, even if it left him with a fair share of headaches.

However, each part of Four had different memories and perceptions of shared ones, along with different fears, hopes, and dreams. They were all still the same person at the end of the day, but they were still very different from each other. So having all of them stuffed in his head made for quite a bit of chaos. 

Four shivered, rubbing his hands together in order to warm them. Not too long ago he, along with the other Links, travelled through another portal, which dumped him in the middle of what looked to be a snowy mountain with no sign of his friends nearby, leaving him to stumble around looking for any signs of life- or a way out of the freezing temperatures.

Inside his mind, he could hear Vio’s mumbling, Red’s rambling, and Green’s patient voice overlapping with each other, an almost unrecognizable jumble of words floating around in his head. He could, however, make out the thoughtfulness in Vio, the concern in Red, and the determination in Green, all working together to move forward in the snowstorm. 

However, Blue’s voice was strangely absent; the void his silence created was now filled with wariness and an overwhelming feeling of anxiety. It clung to his subconscious like a vine, pulling tighter and tighter as time went on. He could sense an underlying feeling of confusion coming from the other colors, making his emotions jumbled and cluttered. 

Four sighed; he wasn’t going to get anywhere trying to sort out his impossibly tangled thoughts. He’d sooner freeze than get anywhere with that mess. For now he had to try to find his way out of the cold, which was a goal all four of them could agree on. Rubbing his hands against his arms, he exhaled deeply, moving forwards.

The wind whipped at his unprotected face, making him turn his head, squinting his eyes. The snow made it nearly impossible to see anything further than ten feet away from him. Four just hoped that it would let up soon.

Vio’s voice helpfully reminded him that it was highly unlikely due to the temperature conditions. So much for being optimistic. He trudged onwards through the snow, blindly stumbling forwards towards what he hoped to be either his friends or some shelter. Blue’s dread sat uncomfortably in the back of his mind, almost like it was trying to push its way forwards. 

He walked for some time, long since having lost any sense of direction he might’ve had before. Four was shivering, his clothes doing practically nothing against the freezing cold. The situation was all too familiar. All alone, lost in the cold…

Four shook his head; he couldn’t be thinking about that right now. Blue was still silent, but the amount of emotion pouring from him spoke louder than any words one could muster up. He could feel the others’ concern in his mind, along with their still-growing confusion.

One of them might’ve been saying something, but the roaring wind and snow assaulting his entire body made it hard to focus on it. The only thing he could see with full clarity was Blue’s rapidly rising fear, which resonated deeply within him.  
He knew why Blue was struggling so much; he was a part of Four, after all. Even if his mind was an unsolvable puzzle in of itself, he shared all of the experiences of the fragments of his soul. Four could practically feel the phantom grip of ice crawling up his arms. He shuddered. 

Just then, a sound made itself heard over the wind. It was a loud crack coming from…

Right below him. 

He felt the ground shift, and suddenly he was falling.

Four’s descent didn’t last long however, for his body collided with a harsh, cold surface. From the freezing-cold liquid that was now seeping into his clothes, he deduced that he had landed in a snowbank. Ignoring the panic that flashed through his mind at the surrounding cold, he clambered his way out of the snow, shaking off any that stubbornly hung onto his clothing. After regaining his bearings, he looked up, just barely making out the edge of the cliff he had fallen from. 

It was too high to climb up, which meant he had to find another way. However, upon further examination of the surrounding area, the only way he could go was down. Four groaned, frustrated. He could hear Vio sigh in the back of his mind, along with Red’s voice trying for optimism.

_’Maybe it’s a way off of this mountain!’_ His cheerful part reasoned.

With no other options, he chose to listen to Red and started making his way downwards. He could only hope that it led him closer to an actual way down the mountain, or at least a cave he could camp out in. Thankfully, the cliff provided some relief from the cutting winds, but not much. Four shivered, the melted snow having made his clothes practically useless. Not that they were much help in the first place.

Four continued on in silence, his mind relatively quiet besides Vio’s occasional muttering. The snow had let up slightly, giving him more visibility, but it wasn’t enough to see the bottom of the pathway he was following.

His breath was visible in the frigid cold, showing that his breathing had quickened unconsciously. Blue’s tension was almost overwhelming, forcing him to stop and try to regain control of himself. If Blue gained full control, Four knew it would only lead to disaster. Green called out concernedly in his mind, but once again Blue remained unsettlingly silent.

After a moment, feeling more in control, he continued onwards. 

He was starting to regret his fingerless gloves, because his fingers had long since gone numb, along with the tips of his toes. His face felt like it had been fully encased in frost, freezing from the continued exposure to the harsh temperatures. 

Four nearly smacked himself; he had a fire rod. He had the one weapon that was perfectly suited for battling the cold, and this whole time he had been suffering through it instead. He hastily retrieved the item from his bag, nearly dropping it a few times due to the numbness of his fingers, before holding it close to his body, feeling warmth radiate from the magic weapon. 

It was still cold, but at least now it was bearable. Blue’s anxiety seemed to ease slightly with the fire rod out since it chased away the cold, which alleviated at least one problem for the time being. Sighing heavily, he pushed onwards through the snowstorm. 

With the fire rod in hand, he dragged his feet through the snow, melting a small path way in front of him with fire when necessary. Going much faster than before, he finally made it to the bottom of the cliff. The snow had lightened a bit more now that he was at the bottom and, to his disappointment, he had wasted his time climbing all the way down there, as it was a dead end.

Blue, Green, and Red stayed silent, but their disappointment was obvious. Vio mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like: ‘Knew it.’ 

Now he’d have to find a way up the cliff, which was going to prove to be challenge. He already wasn’t a very good climber to begin with, and on top of that he’d have to be gripping freezing-cold rocks with his fingerless gloves. All in all, he was doomed.  
When he turned to go back the way he came, there was a loud rumbling that shook the ground underneath him. Whipping around, startled, he saw something that made his situation about ten times worse. 

“Oh, great.” Four groaned out loud, “Just what I needed, a goddess-damned _Ice Talus_!” 

Not even a second later, he was forced to jump to the side to avoid a large, frozen fist hurtling at him. It broke on impact with the ground, sending pieces of rock flying everywhere. Four picked himself up, holding his fire rod in front of him defensively. 

Since he was the most adept at using the fire rod, it was collectively decided that Red would take the lead in the battle with Green and Vio chipping in where they could. Blue had shrunk back into the back of Four’s mind at the appearance of the Talus, so the others let him be. They could confront him later when they weren’t fighting for their life.

With Red’s guidance, Four swung the fire rod out in a deadly arc, fire shooting out towards the Talus. The frozen rock sizzled as it quickly thawed upon contact with the fire, sending the monster crashing into the ground. Taking the opportunity, he rushed forward, scrambling on top of the living rock, switching out his fire rod for his sword and slashing away at the piece of ore that was recognized as the Talus’ weak point at the top of its body. Once the Talus started to rapidly cool again, Four retreated, just in time to see it burst with ice magic as it powered up again. 

A spike of fear at the display caught Four off guard, paralyzing him just long enough for the Talus to take the opportunity to throw its mighty fist directly at him. He was able to get his bearings to jump out of the way, but couldn’t avoid the ice magic that exploded from the impact. 

Four didn’t even collide with the snow before he was consumed by the cold. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and suddenly Blue was pushed to the forefront of his mind, taking over his entire being. Green, Red, and Vio’s shouting faded into the haze of his own terror, and Four was no more.

...

Blue couldn’t move, completely frozen in place. 

Whether that was because of the cold or his own fear, he couldn’t tell. If he could move, he knew that his hands would be shaking. If he could move, he knew that his teeth would be chattering violently. Though if he could move, he would be far away from this horrible situation. He wanted to shout, scream, _anything_ , yet he couldn’t do a goddess-damned thing as he stood there, cold and afraid.

He thought he heard voices echo in the back of his mind, but it barely registered. Everything was too much- too much cold, it was everywhere, and he couldn’t escape it. It bit at his skin, pinpricks of cold poked at his eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to move.

Why couldn’t he move? Why?

He wanted to move, to escape the cold, he didn’t like the cold.

It was _too_ cold.

Blue’s breaths came quicker and quicker, until he found he couldn’t draw breath anymore. As his vision was fading, and his consciousness was drifting away, he managed one final unspoken plea:

_Help me, please._

That’s when the world exploded.

...

Hyrule was thoroughly lost. 

This wasn’t necessarily unfamiliar territory for him, however, since he tended to wander off into the wilderness occasionally. What _was_ different, was that he lost on a snowy mountain, alone. Usually at least Wild tagged along on his ventures, but warping to a different era must have separated them all for some reason.

Thankfully, he had his fire magic, so he wouldn’t freeze to death while in pursuit of his friends. The problem was actually _finding_ his friends. It was hard enough to see where he was going, so finding anybody would prove to be a challenge.

Not that he would let that stop him.

To his unexpected luck, not even a few minutes of wandering rewarded him with some shallow footprints. 

“Maybe this leads to one of the others!” Hyrule grinned to himself, and enthusiastically started down the trail of footprints.

The flame he had summoned in his hand flickered slightly in the cold winds, forcing him to pour more of his magic into it in order to keep it lit. Hopefully whoever these footprints belonged to had a fire going already, or some other form of warmth, because at this rate he’d drain himself of magical energy before long.

Just ahead of him, Hyrule could make out what looked to be some kind of cliff, along with the end of the trail he had been following. Approaching the edge, he risked leaning over to look down towards the bottom of the drop, where he noticed a human sized dent in the snow on the ground, but no person around.

Not seeing any better options, Hyrule jumped from the edge and into the pile of snow beneath him, the sudden cold hitting him like a horse as his fire was put out. He scrambled out of the snow, reigniting his magic and continued forward, following the footsteps further and further downwards. 

It was when he could start to see the end of the path he’d been following when he felt alarmed. Lumbering forward was what Hyrule recognized as an Ice Talus, heading right for a small humanoid figure encased in ice. He picked up his pace, stumbling through the snow; the fire in his hand glowing brighter as if reacting to his urgency. As he finally reached the bottom, he nearly fell over in his shock.

The ice figure wasn’t too far ahead of him, and he could make out its features; the shoulder-length blonde hair, the multi-colored tunic, the green hood that was suspended in the air, frozen solid. It was…

“Four!” Hyrule gasped, eyes widening with horror. 

He ran forward, nearly crashing into his frozen friend. Four’s face was filled with pure terror, paralyzed by the ice surrounding him. With no time to waste, Hyrule approached the Talus, which was stomping ever closer, and summoned a flame to his hand, hurling it straight into the chest of the monster.

As expected, the ice melted off of the rock creature, forcing it to collapse to the ground and regain the cold shell it had lost. Using the distraction, the brunette turned tail and retreated to Four’s side. He glanced around, scanning the area for any form of cover, eyes managing to catch a small alcove in the side of one of the rock walls that surrounded them. 

With a goal in mind, he swiftly, but carefully, hauled Four to safety, tucking him into the small hole.

“Be right back, Four, hang in there.” Hyrule whispered, before moving to attack the Talus, expression set with determination.

The Talus had since stood up, its magic shell restored, but Hyrule wasn’t going to let it stay up for long. He summoned more fire into his hand, slamming his flaming palm into the rock with force that made his hand hurt. As soon as the monster had collapsed, he had his sword drawn and was hacking away at the piece of ore on top, pouring his anger and desperation into each strike. 

It took almost all of what was left of his magic reserves and a bit of time, but the Talus finally exploded into a dark smoke, signaling its defeat. Not waiting to see what it left behind, Hyrule quickly ran back to Four kneeling down in the snow. Bringing up the last of his power, he worked to use his fire to melt the ice surrounded the other boy.

“Please, please work…Four come back to me, please!” 

...

_”Blue, can you hear me?! Blue!”_

_“Snap out of it, Blue!”_

_“Please come back, Blue, please!”_

_Blue stared ahead, terror washed away, replaced with numbness. Familiar people called for him, and a part of him reached for them, but he couldn’t see past the haze of his mind. Everything had been so sharp and focused from his terror, he could clearly see the ice he was embraced by, he could feel the cold that would be his killer._

_That was all that there was, wasn’t it? It was cold, it was all he knew, all he could feel, all he could touch; it was all he had. What else was there to think of? There was only ice and snow and blue…but not his blue. It was too light of a shade; it didn’t have emotions like his blue did. It wasn’t a part of something like he was-_

_He was…a part of something._

_**”Blue!** _

“Four!”

_That’s right…he was…_

_Four._

...

Four slowly opened his eyes, feeling warmth surrounding him, combatting against the cold that had seeped into his soul. Instead of the harsh blue he expected to see, there was a starry sky that expanded beyond his vision, surrounding the large moon that sat overhead.

What had happened? The last thing he remembered was the ice and the cold and the Ice Talus-

Blue sat up quickly, glancing around, looking for the monster in question. Where was it? Where did it go? Where was the cold?

_’Blue, calm down, focus. We’re safe.’_ Green voiced from their mind.

Blue put a hand to their chest, inhaling deeply, his heart rate slowing slightly as he calmed down. Exhaling, he felt Four balance out again as he faded into their mind. Almost immediately he felt Red slam into him, hugging him tightly.

“Blue! You’re okay!” He cried, burying his head into Blue’s chest.

Green and Vio were smiling just behind Red, relief clear in their faces.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, no need to get all mushy and stuff.” Blue grumbled. 

Vio spoke up, “Let him have this, Blue, you did give us all quite the scare back there, you know.” 

Guilt flashed through him, resonating across the rest of the colors. Green immediately came forward, placing a placating hand on Blue’s shoulder.

“Blue, I don’t know exactly what happened to or why you panicked suddenly, but it’s not your fault. We all have our fair share of fears, many that we share, in fact, and most of the time they rear their heads at the worst possible moment. We can hardly blame you for that.” He reassured, “However, if there was something that was bothering you this much, why didn’t you tell us?”

“I don’t know…I just…we already have so much on our mind all the time, you all hardly needed to be burdened with something as stupid as a fear of the cold.” Blue sighed, unlatching Red from himself. 

“You know, Blue…” Vio piped up, turning the other color’s attention towards him, “Even if we are separate fragments of a soul, we’re still the same person at the end of the day. We’re meant to share burdens, no matter how trivial they may seem. Even if we argue and can barely stand each other sometimes, we’re still all here for each other. So next time you can come to us about this stuff.”

Blue felt his eyes water a bit, but he quickly wiped them with his sleeve, nodding.

“Okay, thank you, guys.”

The four gathered around, embracing each other whole-heartedly, and Four became whole once more.

...

“Hey, Four, you there? You’re spacing out.” A hand waved in front of Four’s face, making him refocus on the world around him.

There were tall trees surrounding him, along with a small fire not too far from where he sat. And standing in front of him was a familiar brunette.

“Oh, yeah, I’m here. Sorry.” He smiled slightly, “What’s up?”

Hyrule returned a smile of his own, but worry tinted his eyes, “I saw that you were awake and I wanted to check on you. Are you feeling alright? You were frozen for quite a while.”

“Well I’m still a bit cold, but I think I’m alright.” Four replied, “Where are we, anyway?”

“We’re somewhere just off the mountain. After I found you I managed to get you away from the Talus and thaw the ice around you, I found a small pathway that led down into a forest. I’m still not sure where the others are, but we’re not going to freeze to death now, at least.” The brunette explained, “Hopefully they found their own ways off the mountain and we can all meet up soon.”

“Yeah, hopefully.”

The two sat in comfortable silence for a while, the crackling of the nearby fire and the chirping of crickets filling the void of noise.

“Hey, Hyrule?” Four suddenly spoke after a minute, turning to his friend.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t remember what happened after I got frozen and everything but…thank you, for saving me.” The blonde smiled brighter than before.

The brunette grinned, “That’s what friends are for, y’know.” 

The faces of the other heroes came to mind, even the faces of the pieces of his soul. He supposed he had quite a few friends looking out for him, didn’t he? Four was glad to have people like Hyrule around, people he could trust and rely on. 

“Yeah…I know.”


End file.
